Chew toy

ABSTRACT

A chewable pet toy includes recesses in one or more surfaces of the chewable toy to permit addition of flavors and treats to a chew toy. The recesses are shaped and oriented to keep the added flavors and treats from contacting floors, rugs, and furniture on which the toy may be dropped by the pet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/642,392 filed Mar. 9, 2015 which, in turn, claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/951,296, filed Mar. 11, 20014, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The inventions described below relates to the field of chewable pet toys and more specifically to chewable pet toys that permit the addition of selected flavors and treats.

BACKGROUND

Stimulating pets to maintain their health is often achieved by providing toys for the pet to chase, chew or otherwise interact with. Chewable toys that permit the pet owner to add and change flavors and tastes to the toy are popular.

SUMMARY

The devices and methods described below provide for a chewable pet toy includes recesses in one or more surfaces of the chewable to permit addition of flavors and treats to a chew toy. The recesses are shaped and oriented to keep the added flavors and treats from contacting floors, rugs, and furniture on which the toy may be dropped by the pet.

The assortment of recesses in the surface of the chew toy are configured to capture and retain any suitable treat in paste or semi-solid form such as peanut butter, cheese, or flavored pet treats. The recesses are configured to permit the chew toy to be cleaned to remove old treats and enable addition of new treats to the recesses.

A chewable pet toy as described below includes a generally bar shaped chew toy with concave upper and lower surfaces and a plurality of recesses in the concave upper and lower surfaces.

The chewable pet toy may be formed of any suitable material to withstand repeated chewing by a pet. Suitable materials may be any suitable polymer such as nylon polymer or any suitable rubber such as Poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene) (SBS) or any suitable plastic may be used. The chew toy may adapt any suitable shape such as the shape of a generally rectangular bar, or two disks connected by a generally rectangular bar with all three elements oriented in a single plane. Each of the two disks has a concave upper and lower surface with the upper surfaces of the two disks and the upper surface of the rectangular bar oriented to be generally planar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chew toy with recesses for pet treats

FIG. 2 is a top view of the chew toy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the chew toy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the chew toy of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a close-up cross section view the chew toy of FIG. 1 taken along 5-5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Chewable pet toy 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. Body 11 may adopt any suitable shape and is formed from any suitable safe, chew resistant material such as nylon polymer, plastic or rubber. Body 11 includes one or more flavor areas 12, each flavor area including one or more recesses such as recess 13. Recesses such as recess 13 may be filled with any suitable pet treat. For example, any malleable, semi-soft or paste treat such a peanut butter, cheese or any other pet treat may be pushed into the recesses to provide stimulating flavor and odor for a pet.

Chew toy 10 may have a generally rectangular bar shape or as illustrated in FIG. 2 chew toy 10 may be configured as a combination of suitably shaped body elements such as disks 16A and 16B, joined together by a generally rectangular bar 17. A chew toy includes at least one flavor area such as area 12A. Alternatively, each body element may include one or more flavor areas such as areas 12A and 12B. Each flavor area includes one or more recesses such as recesses 13 which extend from the surface of the body into the body of the chew toy.

Any chew toy surface containing a flavor area is shaped to be concave into the chew toy body. Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, surface 18 is slightly concave to keep flavor area 12 recessed below perimeter edge 20. This configuration keeps all the flavor areas such as flavor areas 12C and 12D from contacting any planar surface on which the chew toy rests such as surface 21 which may be a floor or furniture or other surface.

Referring now to FIG. 5, recesses such as recess 23 may adopt any suitable profile. For example, recess 23 may be cylindrical such as profile 23A, conical such as profile 23B, or inverted conical such as profile 23C. Compound shapes may also be used.

While the preferred embodiments of the devices and methods have been described in reference to the environment in which they were developed, they are merely illustrative of the principles of the inventions. The elements of the various embodiments may be incorporated into each of the other species to obtain the benefits of those elements in combination with such other species, and the various beneficial features may be employed in embodiments alone or in combination with each other. Other embodiments and configurations may be devised without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A pet toy comprising: an elongated member formed of chew-resistant polymeric material, the elongated member having two opposed surfaces and a perimeter edge connecting the opposed surfaces, wherein at least one of the surfaces is a concave surface that curves continuously between opposite sides of the perimeter edge; and a plurality of recesses formed in the concave surface, wherein each recess is separated from an adjacent recess by a portion of the concave surface and is adapted to be filled with a pet treat.
 2. The pet toy according to claim 1, wherein both of the opposed surfaces are continuously curved concave surfaces.
 3. The pet toy according to claim 1, wherein the recesses are formed in both concave surfaces.
 4. The pet toy according to claim 1, wherein the recesses are arranged in side-by-side relationship and define a line parallel to the perimeter edge of the elongated member.
 5. The pet toy according to claim 4, wherein the recesses are substantially identical to one another.
 6. The pet toy according to claim 1, further comprising: a first enlarged, generally circular end member connected to a first end of the elongated member, the first end member having a pair of opposed surfaces; and a second enlarged, generally circular end member connected to a second end of the elongated member, the second end member having a pair of opposed surfaces.
 7. The pet toy according to claim 6, wherein: at least one of the opposed surfaces of the first end member is concave and continuously curved: and at least one of the opposed surfaces of the second end member is concave and continuously curved.
 8. The pet toy according to claim 6, wherein: both opposed surfaces of the first end member are concave and continuously curved; and both opposed surfaces of the second end member are concave and continuously curved.
 9. The pet toy according to claim 7, further comprising a plurality of recesses formed in each concave surface of each end member, wherein each recess is separated from an adjacent recess by a portion of the concave surface and is adapted to be filled with a pet treat.
 10. The pet toy of claim 1 wherein the elongated member is formed of nylon polymer.
 11. The pet toy of claim 1 wherein the elongated member is formed of plastic.
 12. The pet toy of claim 1 wherein the chew toy is formed of rubber.
 13. A pet toy comprising: an elongated member formed of chew-resistant polymeric material, the elongated member having two opposed concave surfaces and a perimeter edge connecting the opposed surfaces, wherein each concave surface curves continuously between opposite sides of the perimeter edge; and a plurality of recesses arranged in side-by-side relationship in the concave surface to define a line parallel to the perimeter edge, wherein each recess is separated from an adjacent recess by a portion of the concave surface and is adapted to be filled with a pet treat.
 14. The pet toy according to claim 13, wherein the recesses are substantially identical to one another.
 15. The pet toy according to claim 13, further comprising: a first enlarged, generally circular end member connected to a first end of the elongated member, the first end member having a pair of opposed surfaces; and a second enlarged, generally circular end member connected to a second end of the elongated member, the second end member having a pair of opposed surfaces.
 16. The net toy according to claim 15, wherein: at least one of the opposed surfaces of the first end member is concave and continuously curved; and at least one of the opposed surfaces of the second end member is concave and continuously curved.
 17. The pet toy according to claim 16, further comprising a plurality of recesses formed in each concave surface of each end member, wherein each recess is separated from an adjacent recess by a portion of the concave surface and is adapted to be filled with a pet treat.
 18. The pet toy of claim 13, wherein the elongated member is formed of nylon polymer.
 19. The pet toy of claim 13, wherein the elongated member is formed of plastic.
 20. The pet toy of claim 13, wherein the chew toy is formed of rubber. 